Manual:Professional Development:Importance of Training

The Importance of Training to the SFMC
“The more your men sweat in peacetime, the less they’ll bleed in wartime.” USMC Variation on ancient Earth – Chinese Proverb.

What are the essential differences between and armed mob, and an elite militaryforce? The mob has guns, the military unit has guns. The mob has numbers to overwhelm - the military unit usually has smaller num-bers. The mob can cause damage for a while - the military unit can inflict damage over a longer period of time. The mob will melt away when confronted - the military unit will dig in and resist. The mob has belief in its because that varies from freedom to anti-what verism - the military unit has belief in itself and its leadership. What one element causes these differences that would allow the 10-40 members of a military unit to be able to withstand and often defeat the thousands in a mob, even when both armed with the same weapon? Training. 

That’s it, … training. Not even requiring a capital T, the simple act of teaching a skill to a soldier, and then having him practice it over and over again. Is this a surprise? Not to those who have taken the call to arms as their profession, not to those who studied the role of training in the military powers throughout history, and not to the Starfleet Marine Corps.

What follows in this chapter is a study in the concept of continuing education / training for EVERY marine. Why it is a good concept to carry out, in what manner it should be done, who should go to what classes and at what point in their career, and what the end benefits to the Corps, Starfleet and the Federation will be in the long run.

In reality, there can be no argument of the importance of education for all troopers in the SFMC, from the Rifleman to the General, from the Cook to the Surgeon.

The analysis of this topic listed herein will be in four sections. 
 * First: We will discuss the Recruits and Junior Enlisted personnel, from their arrival at the recruiting depot all the way through their Advanced MOS training and cross training in other branches.
 * Second: We will look at the Senior Enlisted and Warrants Officer, as they enter into the role of leaders and specialists, the experts that the officers must rely on.
 * Third: That before mentioned Junior Officer, like the new enlisted, we will follow as they enter Of-ficer Training School and up to their Advanced MOS training, and cross training in other branches.
 * Finally: The Senior Officer as they enter into the role of advanced leadership, leading leaders, and combined arms operations.

Training for the Recruits and Junior Enlisted Marines
As each new potential recruit signs the dotted line to join the Starfleet Marine Corps, they have a universe of experiences before them, but before they can truly call themselves marines, they have to complete the most rigorous introductory training in the galaxy SFMC Recruit Basic Training otherwise known as Boot Camp. Before the new recruit even gets to enter Boot Camp, he or she will spend one to four weeks in the Recruit De-pot phase. This is a two-step process where recruits are collected together on any of the member planets of the Federation, and then shipped to the Marine Corps Enlisted Training Facility on the Asteroid New Masada known as THE ROCK. Here they will enter the New Valley Forge complex on one side of the asteroid and begin Recruit Basic Training.

However, enroute to the facility, they will enter the second phase, while housed in shipboard barracks for ap-proximately two weeks, the recruits will learn the basics of military life: sleeping-eating-working on the Corps schedule, making their racks, dressing alike, looking alike, and working as a basic team. Boot will be so busy for these recruits that these basic essentials need to be learned before they even step foot on the asteroid. 

Then there is Boot Camp. Much has been written about the grueling, demanding and necessary aspects of the thirteen weeks of Marine Basic Training. But in the end, the results are that recruits become Marines. They have been trained to work as a team, think as a team, and be a team. They have learned the traditions of the Corps, and how each of the member planets of the Federation have always had some elite large unit of warriors, that have led the charge, on land, air and sea. Now they are those warriors, but their learning has just begun.

For every Marine is in effect a rifleman, a member of a fire team. Every Pilot, Cook, Tanker, Medic must go to the Basic Combat School before they can go on in either Branch Training or specific Professional Development Training. Across a deep asteroid ravine from the New Valley Forge facility is a long narrow plateau called the New Guadalcanal Basic Combat School or PD-205 Marine Essentials Task Learning. Here the newly minted Marines are divided into teams of four, and squads of 12 with an instructor assigned to each squad. They will now learn how to use every man portable weapon in the SFMC Arsenal, how to work as a fire team, and how the fire teams work as squads. By the time the marine finished the additional thirteen weeks of combat school, every newly minted Private First Class, will have the training to command and lead a squad of riflemen into combat.

Following the Advanced School, every marine will then choose one of the Combat Branches to attend and learn specialized skills. The vast majority will attend the Combat Infantry School, which is an even more in-depth analysis and instruction in SFMC Infantry Operations. While every marine who finished the Advanced School can in a pinch revert to the role of rifleman, the Infantry Branch Marines, are so well trained in these operations, that they can figuratively perform these operations in their sleep. In addition, there are the Branches of Armor, Mecha, Aerospace, Special Operations, Combat Engineering, Medical, Support, and Maritime Operations.

And in addition to this, there is the option of professional development for each of the junior enlisted have the option of taking PD-201 or one of the NCO courses. This work will help the junior enlisted learn some of those management skills required of a Marine Non-Commissioned Officer supervising units above the Fire Team level, such as squad or even platoon. These courses are also helpful in developing retention among what will become the backbone of the Marine enlisted cadre. 

Following the branch training and any professional training, the junior enlisted as the option of taking study in advanced branch specialization or Marine Occupational Specialty (MOS). Each individual job in the corps has a MOS number assigned to it.

From a 3100: Light Infantryman to a 3110: Machine Gunner, and a 1440: Motor Vehicle Technician to a 7570: Ecological Engineer. Several hundred MOS’s are available to fit all of the needs of the Corps. And each of these require either on the job training or special schooling or both.

Finally, the junior enlisted marine, can and should seek specialty training. Each of the branches provides advance training within that branch. This provides more overall training in such fields as Armored Fighting Vehicles, Artillery, and Infantry Fighting Vehicles in the Armor branch, or Construction, Demolition, and Environ-mental Sciences in the Combat Engineering branch. These advanced classes are often referred to as Series 20 courses as well. Another avenue is for the Marine to become more specialized in his or her MOS field. For example, a 1386 Small Arms Armorer, may become an expert in the repair and modifications of the R757 Compression Phaser Rifle.

Lastly, Marines are encouraged to cross train, and Infantryman may train as an Armor specialist, or a Medic may train to serve in a Special Operations unit. Whatever the cross training, what it provides for the NCO, or the Officer in Charge is more flexibility when the inevitable surprise occurs, and the unit is in a bind. Then the Lt. Is going to be very happy to find that Private Snuffy carrying the 910K Heavy Phaser Rifle, did his first training with the Combat Engineers, and does in fact know how to use the explosives to blow a hole in the obstacles the Breen pirates left behind as they fled. 

Training for the Senior Enlisted Marines & Warrant Officers
After a marine finish their first tour, usually of three to five years, they have the option of re-enlisting, if they have also shown the ability to serve as a noncommissioned officer, a warrant officer, or if capable and willing to go to Officer Candidate School or the Academy and then become an officer. If so, selected as an NCO, the marine will then go to two sets of trainings: NCO Training and Specialized MOS Training. For the Warrant grades, they will enter Warrant Training with a large emphasis on becoming the technical experts in some field needed by the Corps. For those entering the realm of commissioned officer, we will cover later in Part Three.

NCO Training provides for the new non-commissioned officer classroom and field instruction in four fields: Leadership, Management, Tactical Combat, and Logistics. Basic NCO Training provides for the Squad and Platoon level NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge), while the Advanced Course provides from Company, Battalion and higher levels of NCOs. At the most basic levels of the Squad, the NCOIC is THE Leader. His or her example, élan, and ability to motivate the 12 or so marines following, will mean not only the differ-ence in success or failure of the mission, but life or death of the squad. Thus, the new NCOs learn that first and foremost they are their squad’s leader, or at the platoon level, the Officer’s right hand in the leadership of the unit.

In addition, the NCO has to start learning the fine art of management: the supervision, control and direction of subordinates. This function is often more one of paperwork than personality and requires the NCO to be able to sit at a desk or handle a PADD as well as working in the field or handling a Phaser Rifle. Knowing the needs and abilities of each of the troopers in the unit, when they need to go to their own training phases, when they need to go on leave or liberty, and whose medical needs require special considerations are all part of the management of a squad, platoon or larger unit. Both Basic and Advanced NCO schools will provide the necessary instruction in the forms, requirements and regulations of the SFMC. 

In addition to the management of the unit, the NCO needs to be concerned with the logistics for the troops, and equipment. Food, Water, Energy Packs, Repair Parts, Ammunition, all of these is vital to the exercise of combat operations. The NCO needs to be aware of the status of each of these and the other entire minutia necessary.  . Laundry and Cooking, as well as other chores performed by the unit on its own behalf are also considered part of the logistical needs of the unit. As a line trooper, the marine needs only be concerned with the activity of digging a latrine ditch per the sergeant’s instruction. The sergeant has to be aware of the need for the la-trine and where would be the best place to locate the latrine, how it will affect the local water supply, and what other sanitary concerns will need to be addressed.

Finally the NCO needs to be concerned with tactical combat, stepping up from concerns on Fire Team and Individual combat skills, to deployment of multiple fire teams, and squads, as well as weapons teams, and specialty units such as Combat Engineering sappers as well as Aerospace forward fire control spotters. The NCO needs to be able to see a bigger picture much like the officers, and as the larger unit’s officer’s right hand, the NCO needs to be able to advice and relate to the officer the needs of the men during such tactical level combat situations.

In all NCO training, both basic and advanced covers all four of these concerns for the new and veteran sergeants and is a major reason why so many of the SFMC officer cadre comes through the NCO ranks.

Next for the senior enlisted NCO is specialized MOS training. Like the junior enlisted the NCO will train to be more proficient in some sub-specialty of their chosen MOS. However, unlike, the junior, this is REQUIRED for the senior NCOs. They are expected to know more about their MOS, and as many (if not all) of the subspecialties therein.

For the senior NCO is the first line of education for new troopers, and even for some of the junior officer. In the combat branches, each senior NCO will be expected to have already completed advanced training and at least one MOS specialty for each rank advancement thereafter. It is these senior NCOs who become the instructors at the various SFMC schools, experience and knowledge a powerful combination. Likewise in the support branches, advance training and MOS specialty training is required for continued rank advancement. Finally, the more senior NCOs are expected to cross train in other Branch Basic if not Advanced schools. No marine is an island, and neither is their MSG, skills are valuable, and the more skills the marines have the more valuable that unit is when it comes time to pay the price of combat. 

Next, we discuss training and the Warrant Officer Program. Warrant Officers in the Starfleet Marine Corps, often called “Gunners” for their traditional role of being “THE” experts in combat weaponry, are senior enlisted personnel whose expertise is so acute, that they ‘warrant’ a position as an officer, even though they often do not merit a ‘commission’.

The Warrant Program allows local and regional commands the ability to recognize that these experts need to be allowed some command authority over junior officers, though commissioned are not as ‘informed’ about the subject matter as the Warrant Officer.

While it is a wise First Lieutenant who will listen to his top sergeant on weapons usage and placement, they are not required to do so. However, if a Chief Warrant Officer Four or higher tells that same First Lieutenant to get his men away from this or that weapon, now!!! They better be moving away from that weapon with the junior officer taking the lead in respecting the Warrants knowledge AND rank authority. When an enlisted specialist moves up to Warrant Officer, he or she will receive a four-part training course. 
 * First, Leadership AND Management training: this will hone both of these skills they have learned while advancing as an NCO, theoretical studies on motivation and needs based management of people and of resources.
 * Second, they will undergo intensive specialty training in their chosen fields, both from other Warrants, Senior Officer, and Civilian Specialist (many of whom are retired Marines themselves).
 * Third, they will all undergo instruction training; the most important usage of the Warrant Officer is training and teaching new marine recruits, and junior officers. It is for the very need to keep and pass on the years of experience carried by these marines that the Warrant Program exists.
 * Finally: Advanced and Cross Branch weapons training. While a Senior Sergeant can focus on the intricacies of the 910K Heavy Phaser Rifle, a Warrant Infantry Gunner will need to know every weapon that a Marine grunt will have access to - Current, Obsolete, Archaic, and Potential Future Weaponry.

Training for the Junior Officers
The career path for officers in the Starfleet Marine Corps is quite different than that of the fleet side of Star-fleet. A larger percentage of the officers come up through the enlisted ranks before entering the Academy than their counterparts in fleet; forty-five percent versus fifteen percent. During wartime this percentage rises to a staggering seventy-five percent. What this means is that nearly half of all new peacetime officers in the Corps have had some experience in the Corps, and have seen life through the eyes of the enlisted marine for two or more years.

For the Junior Officer then there are three parts to their continuing education, which is by necessity custom-ized to their past experiences and current capabilities – the Academy to earn their commission; Branch Training to earn their position; and Specialty training to give them the proficiency to lead other Marines. As the new marine officer candidate enters the Academy he enters a three-stage program. First is the acquisition of his Bachelors Degree. This has been and remains a prerequisite for Marine Officers for almost 500 years.

The Marine Officer while a warrior is also a scholar. If the candidate already has his bachelor’s he may at his request and per the needs of the Corps, perform advanced graduate studies, or he may select to go directly to the Officer Training School portion of the Academy Program. This portion conducted over a three-month period of time, instructs the new officer to be in the management and logistical needs of his new position to be. Long hours of classroom work, with both Management and Leadership theory being studied. The next portion is that all OTS graduates (even the prior enlisted) will go through “Bulldog”, a special and even more intensive version of “Boot Camp” Basic Training.

This is so that every officer knows what his troops have gone through, and what they are capable of. Finally, as every marine is a rifleman, the officer candidates will go through an equally intensive version of the Basic Combat School at New Guadalcanal.

Again, like their enlisted brethren, they are assigned to twelve-man squads with an instructor Squad Leader and put through the rigors of learning what combat will be like, and how a squad must operate as a team. They will learn how to deploy multiple squads; each candidate in turn will take the role of the squad leader, and as a platoon officer, (three squads of 12 candidates, make up one cycle’s class number by year and class “72-12”, these classmates will be friends for decades, and will keep track of each other through reun-ions and subspace communications). When the new Second Lieutenant gets his first platoon, he will know intimately what the capabilities of each of his squads are, and how they work together. 

Following the Basic Combat School, Officers like the enlisted marines will begin Branch Training, however, this will automatically include Professional Development training such as PD-20. Officers are as a group ex-pected to be able to both lead AND manage their units. From the newest 2nd Lt. to the most experienced General, management is an important tool, and a means to the ends of effective leadership. Following PD-201, the new officers will go on to Branch Training, those prior enlisted marines who have stepped on to being officers will be able to skip the more basic / introductory courses but will still devote as much time in total to their field of specialty, sometimes even acting as assistant instructors for their classmates. Finally, every officer, prior enlisted or not, will need to learn an Officer MOS skill commensurate to their branch and specialty therein such as : 3000 Infantry Officer, (Officers commanding infantry units receive the MOS of 3000 which indicates training in all aspects of infantry operations.) Or the 4000 Armor Officer, (Commanders of companies and larger Armor units are assigned this MOS).

The Junior Office cannot stop there, if they want to continue in their advancement in the Corps, and if they want to increase the chances for the survival of their unit, and themselves.

Advanced branch training is a must for all junior officers, from AE-201 to MD-201, each branch offers over-view training to both the enlisted and commissioned personnel. For example, after the Marine 1st Lt. finished AR-201, even though he is a Patton driver first and foremost, he will better understand how Mechanized Infan-try and Artillery fit into the entire Armor Branch and modes of operation in the armor attack.

In addition to the advanced branch training, every junior officer, should seek advanced MOS training. Skills and knowledge as a 3000 Infantry Officer, can be supplemented, allowing the 1st Lt. or Captain the ability to step up to command a Battalion if necessary or to be able to operate in joint mode with other branches platoon or company level units to exploit situations at a minute's notice. For the junior officer much of the advanced MOS training encompasses C-3 skills (Command, Control and Communications) as they are sup-posed to be able to focus on the entirety of the battle and direct subordinate units, as opposed to the junior enlisted who has taken advanced MOS training to better facilitate removing that threat vector 200 meters in front of the unit.

Finally, the junior officer will need to be cross trained, with the other branches. Just as the advanced branch trainings, familiarizes the junior officer with the other specialties within their branch, the cross training will fa-miliarize them with the basics of the other branches. As well the C-3 skills learned before will be enhanced so that Infantry Commanders can call in Aerospace Support, Medical Commanders can call in Armored Evacuation, and Combat Engineers can call for an assist from Mecha units. Once a junior officer can understand the capabilities of their brethren from the other branches, and HOW to communicate with them, they can work as unified team, under any circumstances. 

Training for the Senior Officer
After a marine officer has finishes their second or third tour, usually a period of eight to twelve years, they are eligible for promotion to the rank of Major. This is the first of the Field Grade ranks (2nd Lt., 1st Lt., and Captain being the Company Grades), and along with Lt. Colonel, Colonel and Brigadier make up that classification of rank. The four General Ranks are also known as Flag Ranks. Once reaching the level of Field Grade, a marine officer is considered a Senior Officer, and will be required to have completed or soon complete various courses from both the SFMC Academy and the main Starfleet Academy on Earth.

In addition, like the senior enlisted grades the senior officer is expected to become an expert in their Branch as well as having secondary knowledge in the conduct of military operations, beyond the scope of just the battle before them.

First the Senior Officer will need to visit the Starfleet Academy branch nearest his duty assignment for Officer Command College. This school in the theory and practice of command is a pre-requisite for all Fleet Officer who wish Command (or even Executive Officer positions) aboard a Starfleet Starship, and the Corps has de-cided that the same skill sets are useful for command of Regiment size units, and even helpful at the Battalion level.

Following this, the officer will return to the SFMC-Academy to take the Leadership Series of courses, which culminates with a Leadership Seminar and Thesis program currently taught by Dr. Wess Roberts. These courses are mostly theoretical in nature, and thus it is currently Corps policy that the aspiring regimental commander will first return to his field command (Battalion or Regimental level) and put that which is learned into practice for a few years. This will help the senior officer better understand what is learned and be able to adept those skills to their own individual personality. 

At the completion of this, the Corps is very willing and encouraging for those officers wanting to enter the flag ranks to go to the SFA main campus in San Francisco to take the Flag Officer School series from the legend-ary Vice Admiral Helen Pawlowski. Highly informative and refined over many decades of instruction these courses have been said by some, should be used as the basis of the Officer Command College mentioned above.

Parallel to this leadership training the Senior Officer must also become an expert in their chosen branch. This includes Professional Development, Advanced Branch Training, and Combined Arms Training. Advanced Professional Development goes hand in hand with the Leadership Courses, and many an officer will also take officer version the NCO Courses, so that they will know what their Sgt. Majors and Gunnery Sergeants are thinking. The epitome of the Professional Development series is the PD-301 Independent Study program, resulting in an analysis and thesis on some area of concern for all senior officers, for example “Continuing Education in the SFMC”.

Following or concurrent with this training, the senior officer will go to Advanced Branch Training. Following the XX-201 taken as a Junior Officer, the Senior Officer will begin to take advanced and theoretical studies in their chosen branch, becoming like the senior enlisted marine, the “expert” in their field. Know not only ‘how’ a tank works, ‘why’ a tank works, but ‘when’ a tank should be used in combat, and ‘when’ artillery would be a better option, or bombardment from space. Many of the XX-30 Thesis papers that are a result of this study, have become texts in and of themselves, and have changed Marine Doctrine to the betterment of the Federa-tion. Lessons learned by these Senior Officers while in the field, translate to scholarly papers that have endured and are used to teach the next generation of marine officers.

By this time in his career, the senior officer will need to attend Combined Arms Training. Not just taking classes in the other branches, but specialized training on how the different fields of service can and should work together to deliver the maximum effective force upon the enemy at a point the Senior Officer chooses, and-with the maximum exploitable result.

An officer trained in combined arms tactics will know instinctively when to commit his armor assets here, his Mecha forces there, and when to keep infantry and aerospace assets in reserve. When to move Combat Engineers forward to exploit a gap, is as important as knowing when to get the medical units evacuated so the marines with guns can deliver their special skills all over the field of battle. The new General Staff College of the SFMC-Academy and its series of Combined Arms schools is going a long way to providing these skills to our senior officers in the Corps, and even some Flag Officers from the Fleet are attending to see how the Corps can extend their own resources in traditionally non-fleet situations, especially with the use of Aerospace/Mecha assets.

Finally, the senior officer needs to acquire some specialty training. In addition to the Combined Arms training, the Senior Officer should become proficient in at least one if not more additional branches of service. They need to take advanced coursework in management and administration. And most importantly, Combat Theory needs to be studied and learned. 

Threat Forces that the Federation will have to deal with in the future, will have new capabilities, new tactics, new strategies, and it will be by a true understanding of the underlying theories of combat that the SFMC will be able to defeat these threats as efficiently as possible.

The concept that the Senior Officer should be both Combined Arms trained AND multiple branches trained is a recurring philosophy that is currently once again in vogue. A colonel or general who is trained as a tanker and a pilot, will know in much more intimate detail the capabilities of both, and how they should and could interact. The same logic extends to each additional branch the senior officer spends the time becoming qualified in.

The one caveat is that the officer will have to determine a balance between advanced expertise in their field, and adequate knowledge in many fields.

In learning the skills of the management and administration of Corps assets the Senior officer will learn what is call “The Corps’ Management Control Process” The Corps’ Army’s approach to management control is based on the fundamental philosophy that all commanders and managers have an inherent management control responsibility. SFMC unit HQs are responsible for establishing sound management controls in their policy directives and for exercising effective oversight to ensure compliance with these policies. Commanders and managers throughout the Corps are responsible for establishing and maintaining effective management controls to ensure that operations are effective, and resources are protected and used appropriately.

The Corps’ management control process supports commanders and managers in meeting these inherent responsibilities by providing two additional management control mechanisms: a process for periodically con-ducting detailed evaluations of management controls in selected areas and a process for developing and sup-porting an objective annual statement of assurance for the Commandant of the SFMC that fully discloses known material weaknesses.

The Corps’ management control policy and process are implemented and emphasized through four key com-ponents. First and foremost is leadership emphasis. Second is education and training to ensure that commanders and managers understand their management control responsibilities. Third is an administrative approach that clearly defines fundamental requirements and establishes accountability, while minimizing the workload burdens that ultimately detract from enthusiastic acceptance management and administration objectives.

Fourth, and the ultimate goal, is an effective process to detect report and correct recurring management control deficiencies. None of the processes to accomplish these goals comes automatically.

Proper training of the senior officer at both the General Staff College, and at advanced private institutions is necessary. Often you will see Flag Officers of the Corps with master's or even Doctor of Business Administration in command of the Divisions and Corps sized units of the SFMC. Likewise, many leaders, managers and CEOs of private corporations are retired Flag Officers of both the Corps and the Fleet with this advanced training. 

Finally, the senior officer’s specialty training and education is complete one they have gone through a com-plete regiment in Combat Theory. This can be defined as a study of military combat being a subset of the broader category of military conflict, which in turn is a subset of sentient conflict in general. (see Appendix Three) Military combat is defined as purposeful, controlled violence carried out by means of deadly force be-tween opponents, each attempting to carry out a mission, the achievement of which has value to that side and denial of which has value to the other side. Wars of course involve deadly force, as do campaigns within wars, but it is only in combat that deadly force is directly and actively applied against the enemy. Combat is the active agent of warfare, the crucible in which war aims are decided.

Included within combat’s boundaries are the preparatory steps taken by each side immediately before active use of deadly force and the disengagement actions before interaction between the two sides ceases. The phrase “use of deadly force” encompasses the threat of deadly force when it has an effect on combat. The theory does bind the scope neither of combat neither by the kinds of weapons employed nor by the size of forces or geographical area. Interplanetary delivery mutagenic weapons or subspace warheads is a combat action on a grand scale. Contiguity of mission is the best determinant of what constitutes combat.

Military combat cannot be treated apart from the campaign and war of which it is a part, and so the theory must include within its purview the external context that forms the boundary conditions for combat and affects its course. Before combat commences and while it proceeds, combat activity is influenced by the direction, impetus, and constraints imposed by the external context, and combat results feed back their influence upon the external context.

As foundation for the theory, the course has narrowed a larger list of possible axioms of combat to the follow-ing six:
 * Axiom 1 Military combat involves deadly interaction between military forces.
 * Axiom 2 In combat each side seeks to achieve a goal, called its mission, which has perceived value.
 * Axiom 3 Combat potential is embodied in military forces.
 * Axiom 4 The commander of each side activates combat potential to create combat power in furtherance of the mission.
 * Axiom 5 Domination of the opposing military force is the ultimate means of accomplishing a mission.
 * Axiom 6 Uncertainty is inherent in combat.

It is believed that by an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of combat and military actions the Flag Officer will be better prepared for the rapidly evolving and ever-changing face of combat operations, and that this officer will not be surprised by such actions as an overwhelmed enemy resorting to weapons banned by interstellar treaty, or terrorism used by either non-governmental organizations or interstellar governments. 

Conclusion
In review we have looked into the roles, lessons, and options open to the different levels of Marines: Commissioned, Warranted, and Enlisted; within the realm of Education and Continuing Education in the STARFLEET Marine Corps. What has been revealed, and what has the reader learned? For the Recruits and Junior Enlist-ed we have seen that the Corps has a pressing need to bring the once civilian up to speed as a Combat Ma-rine in as short and efficient time and manner as possible.

But that this educational process does not have to end there. Through the entirety of their first tour, the Corps will provide opportunities AND then benefit from the Marine continually improving their knowledge and skills. This will also continue as the Marine returns for subsequent tours as they become the senior enlisted NCOs and even the Warrant Officers of the Corps.

These then become the instructors for the next generation of junior enlisted marines and junior officers. As the officer transitions from either enlisted or civilian they will have a steep power curve learning to be not only marines, but also leaders and managers.

Finally, we’ve seen how the officer’s training never ends, and that even Generals will return as students and can learn from Sergeant Majors, Warrant Officers, Captains, and even civilian experts – and from all of this, the Corps benefits.

The Smart Marine is a Live Marine. And it is the job of the Corps to wreak havoc on the enemies of the Federation, and that requires Live Marines, not a body bag.